Korean Job Discussion Forums

[dairyairy]

Especially for public school jobs. In the past I've heard of some applicants bidding down salaries, offering to teach extra classes for no pay, and one dude in Anyang at a high school who begged for the job by offering to pay his flight ticket home. But it's getting worse this year. Many are begging for jobs, bidding down salaries, and offering to teach alone, without any co-teacher in the classroom. Some are even offering free private lessons for the Korean teachers and staff. How low can some of these snakes go? They're only ruining it for everyone else, and themselves.

If you're looking for a job understand that there are snakes in the grass.

[Rockhard]

People selling out each other in the name of personal gain? Why I never!

Salaries will drop as long as supply outstrips demand. But worry not, there is a floor and that floor is called China.

As of today the average salary in China (10,000 yuan per month) is 1,737,444 won. We you factor in cost of living it's more like 2,100,000 won a month. That's the lowest possible pay scale as I see it. Right now your average Korean compensation is 2,700,000 a month (rent, severance, health) so there is room yet for a drop.

[nicwr2002]

[nicwr2002]

[Stan Rogers]

You should keep in mind that there are some people who just want a visa. They don't care about the school, the salary, conditions ect. They have far more lucritive activities going on outside the school.

[yfb]

Hope you long-term public schoolers have made backup plans for when your position is cut! No matter how much your staff loves you, if there's no funding, out you go. And if you're too expensive in one district (GEPIK) your chances of employment are drastically reduced in there. I was advised by my recruiter to edit my resume to make it appear to look like I had less experience than I truly had so that I could get more offers. How's that for a job market?

When I was looking for a new job these past few months, competition truly was fierce. My city-hall-funded position was affected by budget cuts so the maximum the school could afford was 2.1 million. And a flood of people were still jockeying to take the position, including one hagwoner who was making 1.6 million after he accepted a pay cut at his hagwon just to stay on. Another woman was making 2.4 at a nearby PS, but was willing to accept this lower salary just to stay employed.

Luckily I was able to find something in my pay range, but it was a rural school.

There may still be some naive optimists out there that count on recovery in the West as the golden ticket to higher salaries and better conditions. Don't count on it. It's a jobless recovery and there are still newbies out there with a boatload of debt and no realistic prospects to pay it off.

PS: The highlight of the job search was when Gyeongsangnam-do refused to recognize my ITTT TESOL certificate for a pay raise because it was "only online" without any in-class experience, despite me having been here for over four years and the EPIK website mentioning nothing of in-class components. Korea, ladies and gentlemen!

[thegadfly]

[World Traveler]

[World Traveler]